First of all, you have to sign-in and specify the team you'll play for. If you have played before, you don't have to sign-in again, unless you'd like to play for another team. New players can choose to join one of the existing teams (listed below), or select any other country. There are no restrictions regarding the number of players per team.

You do, however, have to sign-in before the start of the first match if you'd like to play for an existing team as a new player. If you are a bit late, you can still play, but for some country that still has no players representing it. Changes of team choices are possible until the start of the competition. You can switch teams as the season goes, but you will be able to transfer to an existing team only if committed members of that team state that they don't object you joining in.

We play only main draw singles matches and only "live" matches, so when one team gets to 3 points and wins the tie, we don't count any matches played later on.

If there's 1 point played in a match then the match counts (walkover or a pre-match retirement doesn´t count).

Deadline for posting your tips is until the scheduled start of the match in question, so check this info due to time zones etc.

DO NOT edit your post. If you want to change your picks do it in a new post. Edited posts will make all your picks invalid. Also, don't quote your earlier post when changing picks. Just write what you are changing in a new one.

SCORING

Fed Cup Semifinals: 5 points per correct tipp
World Group I play-off: 3 points per correct tipp
World Group II play-off: 1 points per correct tipp

After all the matches of the day are played, we'll sum up all the points earned by the players of each team and divide by the number of players who played that day for the team. So for example, a sum of points earned by 4 players of some team during the day, will be divided by four to give the team's score.

Scores from each Fed Cup weekend will count towards the end of season team winner, but will also be taken to form continuous, 52-week team rankings. So each season the points earned last year have to be defended. Points earned during Fed Cup weekends will not count for your individual tipping rankings (points earned playing tournaments). Fed Cup rankings and race standings can be found in the Games >>> Tipping section of the forum, along with all the rules.

For current STANDINGS as well as info on how much each team is DEFENDING in this round, go HERE.
For current 2012 RACE RANKINGS (with R1 completed) go HERE

SECOND ROUND TIES

Semifinals

In Moscow, Russia
Russia vs. Serbia

In Ostrava, Czech Republic
Czech Republic vs. Italy

World Group I play-offs

In Kharkiv, Ukraine
Ukraine vs. USA

In Tokyo, Japan
Japan vs. Belgium

In Marbella, Spain
Spain vs. Slovak Republic

In Stuttgart, Germany
Germany vs. Australia

World Group II play-offs

In Besancon, France
France vs. Slovenia

In Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Switzerland vs. Belarus

In Boras, Sweden
Sweden vs. Great Britain

In Buenos Aires, Argentina
Argentina vs. China P. R.

Matches will take place on the 21st and 22nd of April. Complete Order of play will be posted here as soon as it is available.

I'd like to take this opportunity to explain several changes that we have in Tipping FC as of this weekend.

First of all, a rule has been slightly changed that said all the players of a team have to agree to accept a new player in. As of now, only acceptance of committed (those who are playing this weekend) players is needed. Since KittyTennis already accepted Frederik to the USA team back in February, and since Vaxey hasn't played any tipping for months now, I have included Frederik into the USA team.

Another addition to the rules is that I have specified it that you should not quote your previous post when making changes to your picks. I was saying before that this will become official, but for now if someone mistakenly quotes I won't give out any penalties. You will however be closely monitored if you do it, for the risk of manipulations.

I have also rephrased the sentence about scoring so that it's more clear now - the total number of points won by a team during the day is divided by the number of players who participated in play that day.

Hope everything else is clear, feel free to ask any questions and of course you're all welcome to join in.

Can I only play Saturday (for Greece)? Because I can't play Sunday. Will we lose points if I get a 0?

No, if you play just one day your team wont' be punished or anything like that. All the points that the team earns in a day are divided by how many of them played that day (say, if the two of you play on day1 and get 60 points the team will get 60/2=30, but if only one plays on day 2 and earns 40, the team will get 40/1=40).

I kinda don't like the idea of this (everyone being in a tipping chart)

We should be put into a draw, like TT.
Say AUS v GRE
We should be tipping though. Like we should be tipping every fed cup match (excluding zones) and then we should be measured like say if I got 5 and Buitenzorg got 3 so AUS is on 8 and GRE is on like 7, by the end of the round say if AUS won we should move up to the SF or like to WGI or something.

Hindrance, that's an interesting idea, but changing the format in the middle of the season is not something I'd like to give a try. We'll definately explore these and all other ideas for 2013, to make the game as interesting as possible while keeping as much of its original format as well. We can't simply copy another game cause then we'd just end up with two games of the same format, but implementing some details from different games is certainly possible.

06:00 CET IS:
- 21:00 the day before in Los Angeles
- 23:00 the day before in Mexico City
- 01:00 in Rio de Janeiro
- 05:00 in London
- 07:00 in Istanbul
- 09:30 in New Delhi
- 12:00 in Shanghai
- 13:00 in Tokyo
- 14:00 in Melbourne
- 16:00 in Auckland